Abstract
STEROIDAL alcohols (sterols) are fundamental biochemicals in eukaryotes and are indicators of organic matter sources and transformations in sea water and sediments1–3. Reduction of Δ5-stenols, the predominant biogenic sterols, to 5α(H)-stanoIs is primarily an anaerobic microbial transformation4,5. Increased stanol/stenol ratios are used as evidence of this process, for example in Recent sediments where stanol/stenol ratios are higher at lower redox potential2,6–9. The oxic nature of sea water generally seems to preclude this conversion10–12. However, increased stanol/stenol ratios can also reflect direct biogenic input of stanols or preferential degradation of stenols relative to stanols. Here I report increased 5α(H)-stanol/Δ5-stenol ratios in particulate matter at the oxic-anoxic interfaces in the water columns of the Cariaco Trench and Black Sea and attribute them to in situ microbial conversion of stenol to stanol. The extent of conversion varies with water-column redox potential: little stanol generation occurs under oxic conditions, whereas there is substantial conversion in anoxic waters. These results imply that anoxic waters, particularly near oxic–anoxic interfaces, are important sites of intense alteration of organic matter.
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Wakeham, S. Reduction of stenols to stanols in particulate matter at oxic–anoxic boundaries in sea water. Nature 342, 787–790 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/342787a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/342787a0
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